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Man’amko ask for apology
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Posted on Nov 18 2008
A dozen man’amko have signed a letter asking for an apology that stems from an anti-monument resolution.
In October, several members of the Man’amko Advisory Board said they were not given a chance to read the anti-monument resolution and were told by Rose Mondala, the federal program coordinator for the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, that in order to sit down and eat they would have to sign the resolution. When several of the man’amko refused, they were allegedly told it didn’t matter because they were not local.
A few days later, Taotao Tano president Gregorio Cruz asked Office on Aging director Howard Macaranas to investigate the alleged incident and other abuses the group said had occurred. Mondala responded to Cruz saying the accusations were “baseless and without merit.”
“Yes, the local man’amko did sign the resolution but no one was forced nor compelled to sign the petition,” Mondala said in response to Cruz.
In an earlier interview, Monala reiterated the same remarks.
“The outsiders didn’t sign it,” she said. “All the locals signed it.”
The man’amko who say they were told to sign the resolution and several others who say they witnessed the incident wrote a letter to Macaranas asking DCCA to intervene in order for Mondala to apologize and retract her statement that the accusations were baseless.
“I feel obligated to write this letter so that the concerning individuals and myself will have their reputation spared and be cleared,” Man’amko Advisory Council member Terry Sorroza wrote in the letter. She attached the name and signatures of 11 man’amko who were reportedly harassed or are willing to testify.
On Monday, Macaranas wrote a letter to Sorroza stating he would e-mail Mondala to set up a meeting.
“All we want is for her to come and say ‘OK, maybe I said it because I’m mad and I’m sorry,’” Terroza said. “That’s all we want.”
